As it has in other geographies, SurveyUSA here probes to see if those who rarely vote in congressional elections, but who say they are uniquely motivated to vote in 2010, are voting Republican. One theory underlying much of the 2010 campaign narrative is that Republicans are uniquely motivated, Democrats uniquely dispirited. In WA-08, SurveyUSA finds Reichert ahead by nearly identical 5:4 margins among both those who rarely and those who always vote in Congressional elections. But: voters who say they are more enthusiastic about voting in 2010 than in past elections vote Republican 2:1, while those less enthusiastic about voting in 2010 vote Democrat 2:1.

Reichert is seeking a 4th term. Washington's 8th Congressional District, first created after the 1980 census, never has been held by a Democrat.

Filtering: 700 registered voters from Washington's 8th Congressional District were interviewed by SurveyUSA 10/18/10 through 10/20/10, using Registration Based Sample (RBS) from Aristotle in Washington DC. Of the registered voters, 639 were determined by SurveyUSA to have already returned a ballot or to be likely to vote in the 11/02/10 general election for US House of Representatives.

[Candidate names rotated]If you were filling out your ballot in the election for U.S. House of Representatives today, who would you vote for? Republican Dave Reichert? Or Democrat Suzan DelBene ?